NDIS registration – Top 5 Questions

1. Do I need to register with the NDIS Commission?

Registration is mandatory for some supports and optional, though often commercially necessary, for others. The starting point is not your size or your intentions, but the type of support you deliver and how your participants’ funding is managed.

Unregistered providers can deliver many NDIS supports, but only to self-managed or plan-managed participants, and they cannot deliver any of the supports that mandate registration. Registered providers can serve the whole market, including NDIA-managed participants, and can meet the conditions that NDIA-managed funding and higher-risk supports require. All providers, registered or not, must comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct.

Registration is mandatory if you do any of the following:

• deliver Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA)
• deliver plan management
• deliver specialist behaviour support
• implement positive behaviour support plans regulated restrictive practices
• provide any support to NDIA-managed (agency-managed) participants
• from 1 July 2026, operate as a Supported Independent Living (SIL) provider or an NDIS digital platform provider (announced December 2025)
• deliver supports to participants as a residential aged care provider

If none of the above applies and you work only with self-managed or plan-managed participants, registration is currently optional. The trade-off is access: only registered providers can serve NDIA-managed participants, and registration is increasingly the market expectation. As at Q1 2025-26, registered providers were roughly 6 percent of the market by number but captured a disproportionate share of NDIS revenue.

Requirement type: the mandatory categories above are a legislative requirement under the NDIS (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018. Whether you register or not, every provider must comply with the NDIS Code of Conduct and applicable reportable incident obligations.

2. Which supports require registration, and which trigger a tougher/bigger/more expensive audit?

Two separate questions often get blurred here. The first is which supports mandate registration (covered in Question 1). The second is which registration groups you select, because the groups, not your organisation’s size, determine your audit pathway.

There are 36 registration groups across 7 categories. Most sit on the verification pathway. A defined set of higher-risk groups triggers the certification pathway, and selecting even one certification group moves your entire registration onto certification.

Groups that trigger certification are the higher-risk, hands-on or specialist supports, including:

• 0104 High Intensity Daily Personal Activities
• 0107 Assistance with Daily Personal Activities
• 0110 Specialist Behaviour Support
• 0115 Assistance with daily tasks in a group or shared living arrangement (SIL)
• 0116 Innovative Community Participation
• 0117 Development of Daily Living and Life Skills
• 0118 Early Childhood Supports
• 0132 Specialist Support Coordination

Practical rule: register only for the groups that match the supports you actually deliver or are realistically planning to deliver in the next 18 months.

Over-registering adds audit scope, cost and time for no benefit. You can add groups later through a variation to registration if your services expand.

3. How does the registration process work and what does it cost?

The end-to-end journey runs through the Commission’s portal and an independent auditor called an Approved Quality Auditor (AQA).

• Apply through the NDIS Commission portal: provide your business and ABN details, key personnel, and your selected registration groups.
• Complete the self-assessment against the NDIS Practice Standards that apply to your chosen groups.
• Receive your audit scope: the Commission determines your audit type (verification or certification) and issues your scope of audit.
• Engage an Approved Quality Auditor (AQA) from the Commission’s list. There is no Commission registration fee; you pay the auditor directly.
• Undergo the audit (verification or certification, as set out in Question 5).
• Address any non-conformities through a corrective action plan before a decision is made.
• Receive the registration decision: the Commission grants registration for up to three years, subject to conditions including ongoing compliance with the Practice Standards.

How much does registration cost?

There is no NDIS Commission registration fee. You pay the Approved Quality Auditor directly. Verification audits commonly sit in the order of $900 to $1,500. Certification audits are higher and scale with organisation size, number of sites and participants, and the number of certification groups in scope. Treat all figures as indicative and obtain quotes from several Approved Quality Auditors before committing.

4. What documents, policies, and procedures do I need?

Your evidence must demonstrate compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards (2021) that apply to your registration groups. The Standards are modular: a Verification Module for verification providers, and the Core Module plus any applicable Supplementary Modules for certification providers. The Core Module spans four areas: Rights and Responsibilities; Provision of Supports; Governance and Operational Management; and the Support Provision Environment.

The documentation typically falls into five groups:

• Business and legal: active ABN, ACN or ARBN if applicable, entity and structure details, key personnel details.
• Worker and personnel: NDIS Worker Screening Clearances for risk-assessed roles, qualifications and training records, employment or engagement agreements.
• Policies and procedures: the core suite mapped to the Practice Standards (see table below).
• Service delivery: service agreement templates, support or care plan templates, and evidence of the supports aligned to your registration groups.
• Audit evidence: your completed self-assessment, an organisational chart and governance structure, and records demonstrating each standard in practice, including a suite of policies and procedures. 
• Requirement versus practice: the Practice Standards are outcomes-based. Auditors test whether your policies are implemented and evidenced, not merely written. A complete document suite that is not embedded in day-to-day practice will not satisfy your own operations, little own the audit requirements.

Preparing for Registration

Four actions consistently make the difference between a clean audit and a stalled one:

1. Scope deliberately. Select only the registration groups you deliver now, plus what you will realistically deliver in the next 12 to 18 months.
2. Self-assess early. Run an internal self-assessment against the applicable Practice Standards before Stage 1, and close gaps before the audit.
3. Evidence implementation, not just policy. Make sure each policy is reflected in records, registers and day-to-day practice.  If your procedure states you maintain a register, make sure you check the register is populated.
4. Prepare your people. Confirm worker screening is current, and brief staff and participants so they feel confident prior to audit day.

5. What type of audit will I need, and how long does it take?

Your registration groups set the pathway. The two pathways differ significantly in depth, cost and time.

Ongoing audit cycle

• Mid-term audit: approximately 18 months into a certification registration, focused on governance, operational management and any corrective actions.
• Renewal audit: every three years; the full audit is repeated. Renewal can be lodged up to six months before expiry.
• Unplanned audit: triggered by complaints or compliance concerns at any time.

How long does it take?

Most providers should plan for three to six months end to end, and up to twelve months where auditor availability is constrained or where non-conformities must be resolved before the Commission decides. The largest variables are how audit-ready your documentation is at Stage 1 and how quickly you can secure an auditor.

What is changing in 2026?

The registration landscape is the most active it has been since the Commission was established. Four developments matter most:

• From 1 July 2026, SIL providers and NDIS digital platform providers must be registered.
• Support coordination was identified for mandatory registration, but that reform is currently paused.
• In April 2026, the Government announced its intention to extend mandatory registration to personal care, daily living supports, and supports in closed settings. This is not yet legislated.
• The NDIS Amendment (Integrity and Safeguarding) Act 2025 introduced stronger enforcement, including penalties for operating without registration where it is required, increased civil penalties, and expanded banning powers that now extend to auditors and consultants.

This Quick Guide aims to answer the Top 5 questions we get asked at TrustBook. For a more comprehensive guide, visit The Complete Guide To NDIS Provider Registration.